Dangerous products: asbestos in movie theaters, ironing boards and more

Soldiers' helmets. Theater curtains. Ironing board covers. Window displays. Floors. Carpets. Cars. Crayons. What is the common element linking these products? Asbestos. Before the U.S. Government began limiting the amount of asbestos that companies could use in their products, asbestos could be found in pottery, plastics, gun grips, wine filters, and more.

Those working with or participating in the production of asbestos products were put at most risk for asbestos-related diseases. Asbestos consumption reached its peak in 1951 and declined until 1973, when it began to drop rapidly. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19017689)

With millions of workers exposed during the peak years of asbestos consumption, it is the Americans who produced and worked with asbestos products who are most affected by asbestos companies' dangerous past products. Asbestos diseases take years to develop, and researchers project that asbestos related diseases will continue affect those who were exposed to asbestos years ago. (NCBI)

In this section, we go into detail about the different products that contained asbestos. Weitz & Luxenberg provides the following list of the forms of asbestos, with examples of some common products made from each particular form of asbestos, so that all who were unjustly exposed to asbestos can see which products may have contributed to their exposure. Thankfully, most of these products are now obsolete. (http://www.inspectapedia.com/sickhouse/Asbestos_Products.htm)

Raw asbestos products: asbestos was dangerous in both its raw and diluted forms

Raw asbestos was used in products such as asbestos yarn, felt, plastic reinforcements—even in cheese making, where spores were placed directly on asbestos. Common products that used asbestos in its raw form were: drywall, molded brake lining, asbestos flooring (asbestos in powder form), asbestos cement products, asbestos paints and varnishes, asbestos mattress insulation, loose fibers in wall and floor insulation, asbestos paper, asbestos thread, asbestos millboard, filler in plastics, asbestos pottery, asbestos plaster and stucco, asbestos packing for explosives, asbestos filter fibers and filter pads, and asbestos sewer pipes, among others.

The main categories of asbestos products are: asbestos yarns, asbestos cloth, asbestos felt, asbestos tape, asbestos wick packing, asbestos paper, asbestos millboard, and asbestos cement products. Many asbestos products were used in construction and industrial and military settings, but it was also used in industries as diverse as cheese-making, dry cleaning, the theater, pottery, textile production, healthcare and the justice system.

Through everyday products, asbestos exposure affected millions

When you went to the movies years ago, you didn't know about the products asbestos companies had in almost every part of the theater: the curtains, the carpet, the wallboards, the ceiling, the floor. Theater-goers were not in as much risk as were the people who installed the floor tiles, built the theaters, and maintained the theaters and did repairs. Direct contact, the kind you get from handling asbestos, is the greatest risk factor for asbestos related diseases.

Weitz & Luxenberg has been privileged to help clients who were exposed to asbestos in many different ways seek just compensation. Whether our clients were exposed while building a home, repairing a ship, relining a car's brakes, putting out a fire (asbestos was common in firefighters' uniforms and equipment), or doing laundry for a spouse who worked with asbestos, the exposure was unfair, and the costs of an asbestos related disease were not theirs to pay.

If you have been exposed to products that contained asbestos and are now suffering an asbestos related disease, you have many medical and legal options. If you are seeking more information on your legal options, contact Weitz & Luxenberg today—by phone or by filling out a form—for a free legal consultation.

Acknowledgements:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19017689

http://www.inspectapedia.com/sickhouse/Asbestos_Products.htm